Improvement in registering-dies



EDWARD SPENCER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN PLEGISTERING-DIES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,235, dated April 5, 1864; antedated March 23, 1864.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD SPENCER, of the city and county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful in vention, which I denominate a Registering- Die, and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a top View of my said die; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section takenon the line A A', looking toward the die A; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section taken on the line A' A', lookingtoward the die C; and Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line B B', showing an elevation of the die-wheels D D.

rIhe object of my invention is to provide aregister in the nature of a die or stamp, by which the master ot' avessel, the conductor or other ofticer of a railroad can register or stamp upon a card or ticket the name or number of the vessel or train, the name ot' the station, the number of the trip, the month, the day 0f the month, and the year, and all Without chang ing the dies, but by merely adjusting them after they are made' and arranged in respect to each other, as hereinafter described. This object I accomplish by making a series of cylindrical dies, (shown in the drawings by A, B B, O, and D D,) with appropriate igures and letters raised on their respective peripheries, and arranging the said dies in a block or frame, It, so as to bring all the peripheries on a common plane and on the same plane with the letters or tigures that may be raised or cut on or in the space of the said die or frame.

To enable others skilled in the arts to which it appertains to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner of making and using it.

Let it befsupposed that the die I am about to describe is to be used to register the trips, &c., of a steamboat. I lirst make the block or frame It of the required form and size, both ot' which may be varied more or less to suit the taste or fancy of the maker, user, or projector. I then electrotype or otherwise raise on the surface of said block or frame the name ot' the steamboat and such other letters and figures as may be constantly required to be printed or stamped on the card or ticket. I

then make the cylindrical dies by electrotyping in sheets the proper number of letters and gures, which sheets I afterward cut in straight strips, which strips I bend into the cylindrical form and solder, so as to form a hollow cylinder. This cylinder I afterward run full ot' soft metal or composition and drill a hole through the center, which completes the die.

Other plans may be devised for making these dies, but the one I have described answers a very good purpose. It matters not, however,' how the dies are made, as the manner of mak ing them does not att'ect the scope of my invention, for I do not intend to confine my claim tothe manner or form of making the dies, and here I will state that the die C, which marks or registers the year, may be made square, hexagonal, octagonal, or it may be omitted altogether, and the figures which mark the year maybe raised on the face of the block or frame It without occasioning any great inconvenience, but in that case a new block would have to be provided once every year. The block, however, may be made so as to set the figures which mark the year in type without much inconvenience, as they would have to be changed but once in the year, and then as a general thing but one figure would have to be changed. In the drawings six of these dies are shown, all ci the same dia-meter, and the axes of all are arranged on the same horizontal plane, but the axis of the dies D is set at right angles with the axes of the other dies. The word Trip is raised on the face of the block, as shown by O in Fig. l, and the number 44: is marked on the dies D D, which shows the number ot' trips the vessel has made, the name of the vessel Steamer Memphis being shown by F.

The dies D D have each the ligures from 0 to 9, inclusive, raised on their peripheries, by which the number ot' trips may be marked up to 99, and, if it be desired to raise the number, a third wheel may be added on the same axis. The die which marks the year is shown by O, that which marks the month by A, and those which mark the day of the month byB B. The dies represented by the drawings show but one number or name on each, it being understood that the die A is to have the initial letters ot` all the months raised on it, the

- dies B I3 and D D, the gures from 0 to 9, in.

elusive, and the die O as many years as may be thought necessaiy.

The dies are held in their proper position by means of screw-nuts t w x on their respective axes .y I) b, on which there are screw-threads cut to receive said nuts, said screw-nuts being made With coglike peripheries, that they may be the more readily tightened up by any pointed instrument or by means of a proper wrench. Said dies are also secured by means of pins Q, which pass through the frame or block and into the said dies near their peripheries, by which means they are more irmly and securely held in the required position. When these pins are used, there must be as many holes drilled in the disk of thel dies as there are positions for them to occupy, other- Wise they are not practical.

The registering-die which I have above described is to be fixed in a proper stamping` or printing press, by which sufficient power can be secured to obtain the desired impression. I have intended it to be used in connection with those pinchexs or squeezer-presses that have already been patented to me, but it may be applied to any appropriate press or stamper.

ment or form of the devices herein described 5 but.

"What I claim as my invention, and desire to to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In combination With the stationary die, which I have. called the block or frame R, the movable monthly registering-die A and the two movable dating-dies B B, substantially in the manner described.

2. In combination with the stationary die R, the movable numbering die or dies D, Whether there be one, tWo, or three of said dies, to niark the number of trips, as set forth.

3. In combination with the stationarydie It, the movable or adjustable die C, which marks the year, substantially as set forth.

4. rEhe combination of the monthly registering-die A, the numbering-'dies D, and the dating-dies B B, with the stationary die It, substantially as described.

5. The combination ofthe die C, which marks the years, Whether it be movable or stationary, with the numberingdies D, the monthly die A, and the datingdies B B, arranged in a stationary die, as in the block It, substantially as set forth.

. E. SPENCER. Witnesses:

W. O. NETTLETON, JAs. A. SPENCER. 

